Wednesday, January 30, 2008

SANTANA ROUNDUP.

Lipgloss & Baseball:
Dear Everyone in my Office,
Swear. To. God. If one more of “youse peoples” come up to me and say “Hee hee, what about that Santana trade, eh?” I will head butt you in the chest. Don’t test me. To quote one of our irate clients “Go to hell and stay there you bitch!” Okay, that was a little extreme but I was just looking for a way to incorporate that quote in my blog today!

Misery Loves Company:
This is merely a placeholder for some serious bliss if, as reported, the Mets have acquired Johan Santana. To be a total Nervous Nelly, I will wait until the extension is signed, the physical is passed, and Johan is at the podium, donning the colors and breaking in that stiff, new cap. I am loath to count chickens, so I’ll just walk around with a sly grin and a whole lot of fingers crossed.

MetsBrotha:
This is truly a great day to be a Mets fan. Not only does Omar Minaya and the Mets land THE premier pitcher in all of baseball, they do so without giving up any starting players OR their top prospect, Fernando Martinez. For Omar to pull this trade off is remarkable when you think about where the Mets were 2 months ago… which was behind the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels in terms of best deals on the table. Omar, all is forgiven after that horrible Milledge trade!

For the Twins, you have to feel a bit sorry for their fanbase. Again, the economics of baseball deprive them of an opportunity to hold on to a future hall of famer… wait what am I saying, screw that WE JUST GOT THE BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL FOR DIRT CHEAP!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[more after the jump]

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“YOU THINK YOU A CONTENDER NOW?”

In a development like few others in franchise history, the Mets have put themselves in position to change the dynamic of their team, their upcoming season, their place in the New York sports spectrum and their foreseeable future.
--Marty “Eternal Raincloud” Noble

So this is what it feels like?

I was walking to the train last night with a undeniable spring in my step, which had arrived about the same time as the USA Today story. I sat at my desk at work, trying to concentrate, and doing the happy dance in my chair.
JOHAN SANTANA!
I sent text messages to friends that read OYE COMO VA.
I started receiving congratulatory text messages from non-Mets friends.

“Wow, is this what it feels like when the team gets someone good?” I asked TBF.
“It’s similar to how it felt when we got Beltran,” TBF said. “Or Pedro.”
“I’m buying a shirt AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE,” I say.
“You’re buying a jersey?”
“It depends on how long the contract is. But if it’s long enough, yes I am. For sure, I’m getting a goddamn t-shirt. Tomorrow if I could.”

On the way to work this morning, I see a crowd of guys on the street, maintenance workers and supers and elevator operators for the buildings on my block. I see one of them - wearing a hat for that team in the Bronx, being jostled. I see two other guys wearing Mets hats. I hear the words “Santana” and raucous laughter.
As I pass them, I hold up my hand at one of the guys in the Mets hats. “Johan Santana!” I say, and we high-five.
More laughter in the direction of the Yankees fan. “You see that? You see that? Women know about Johan Santana!”
I turned around. “Let’s try ‘baseball fans’.”
“What? What’s the big deal?”
“You didn’t care about Santana,” I say, “You just didn’t want the Red Sox to get him. Well, now we got him.”
“So what? You think you a contender now, or something?” Yankees Fan asks.
“I don’t think it, I know it.”
Howls of laughter as I walked away and into my building, BIG smile on my face.

It’s so silly, I know, and it’s just one pitcher and there are still 162 games to play. But the winter got a little brighter, a little less grey, a little closer to green grass and blue sky and what it feels like when that pound of bricks I carry around all day falls off my shoulder as soon as I walk through the turnstiles. It’s all about hope, and hope is what we got a little extra helping of right now.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

BATGIRL WEIGHS IN.

Although she stepped down earlier this year, I sent an email off in hopes that, perhaps, I could coax her out of retirement briefly to offer her thoughts on Mr. Santana.

I got lucky.

“Johan Santana is the sort of player that reminds you why you love
baseball in the first place. He is a joy to watch play, the sort of
transcendent player that comes to a team once every couple of decades.
I am not a fan of emptying out one’s farm system for a player, as
usually one finds, eventually, one needs one’s farm system. But Johan
is worth it. Mets fans are very lucky today--not just because they got
the best pitcher in baseball without even having to give up their best
prospects, but because that pitcher is Johan.”
--Bat Girl

If you are not familiar with her Lego reenactments, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Or, my favorite piece of writing:

At about two a.m., Johan Santana popped out of the dugout wearing a smoking jacket and sidled up to Batgirl.
“Hey, BG,” he said.
“Hey, Jo. Que Pasa?”
“Just finished filming my show. You?”
“Fielding drills.” Batgirl motioned to the soggy bunch in front of her, then yelled, “LET’S SEE SOME HUSTLE, DIMPLES!”
“It’s about time. Want some help?”
Batgirl eyed him. “Shouldn’t you be resting? You’re starting tomorrow.”
“I do not require sleep.”
“Oh, I forgot. Thanks, Jo!”

SAINT SANTANA. [view from the twins]

Last week, I decided that it was high time that I said something about the Santana Situation. Given that my blogging idol was the inimitable Bat Girl, I knew more about the Twins than most folks since I cut my teeth reading her writing about her team. As a result, I have this odd but charming alliance with more than a few Twins bloggers.

I reached out to a few of them last week to get their thoughts, and was waiting for everyone to respond before posting. However, no time like the present.

Let’s meet our first blogger, Lipgloss & Baseball.

As a die-hard Twins fan, what do we need to know about Johan Santana that the media circus is missing?

• He is a clubhouse leader.
• He does most of the talking for all the Spanish speaking players.
• Santana and Silva are good friends and would bike to spring training together last season.
• Nickname Cy-tana.
• During the campaign for his first Cy Young everyone had “Santana for President” buttons.
• Donated a fire truck to his hometown in Venezuela that had both the American and Venezuelan flag as its logo.
• This may sound cliché but he really is a nice guy. He does interviews, is friendly with everyone and is often seen smiling in the dugout.

What are his quirks, superstitions, traditions? What trivia would Mets fans need or want to know if he came to Flushing? Does he have walk on music?

• They play “Smooth” by Rob Thomas/Santana during warm-up.
• Last year listened to Gasolina by Daddy Yankee in the clubhouse on his pitching days.

What is your favorite Johan story?

• 6/20/07: Was dared by announcer Bert Blylevin to pitch a shutout. If Santana did he would shave Bert’s head. The clip of Santana shaving Bert’s head was played all over the news the next morning.
• 8/19/07: Santana strikes out 17

What do Twins fans really think about all the media hoopla? Is it as bad in Minneapolis as it is in New York?
The media is as bad but in a different way. We spend most of our free time reading and talking about all the tight-fisted crap that Pohlad is giving us. He is not a liked man here. I think we are now resigned to the fact that Santana won’t be our starting pitcher on March 31.

If he has to leave Minneapolis, where would you and/or Twins fans of your acquaintances hope he ended up?
Anywhere but the Yankees. We would prefer a great NL team (mmm…Mets?) so we wouldn’t have to face him as often.

Besides the obvious, what will you miss the most about Johan Santana?
The secure feeling when he takes the mound. Having an Ace. The interaction between Santana and Baby Jesus (Joe Mauer.)
--
When the news broke today, I followed up to get some closing comments:
My first thought was “I am glad the hype is over.” Then I was sad, then
accepting and finally a little confused to what the hell we traded
for!!! Our management team always talks about how they excel at building
good players. Anyways, I am more pissed at what we got in exchange. 4
prospects for a 2x Cy Young? Argh!
In other words, I stand by the fact that if Santana had to go I am glad
he is going to the Mets. I think you guys will treat him right and enjoy
him.
I am sad and happy at the same time. Now we can focus on 2008.
Congrats!!!

THERE IS A GOD. [SANTANA PT. 1]

ALL HAIL THE BASEBALL DEITIES..

IN OMAR WE TRUST!!!

Monday, January 28, 2008

ADMIRE ME, ADMIRE MY CLOTHES.

Everyone in Section 12 will be no doubt pleased to learn that I have acquired suitable handgear for the 2008 season. My seatmates were continually appalled at my inadequate handgear, as I needed something that would keep my hands available for note- and photo-taking, but yet, offer some semblance of warmth against early Spring and early Fall (well, we hope and pray) cold.

This year, I took matters into my hands in a sensible fashion. Given that I also needed a set of handwarmers that would be suitable for my beautiful, spacious, drafty, cavernous and cold office, I decided to commission some Mets-themed gloves while I was at it.

I got the recommendation for the person who knit these for me from someone on the online crafter marketplace, Etsy, which has become an obsession over the past 9 months. I like buying handmade and I like not buying from HUGE MONDO CHAIN STORE. What’s funny is that these mitts came all the way from Liverpool!  Clearly, however, there was no cultural barrier: all I told Siobhan was, “Here’s the web site. I want team colors. See what you can come up with.” (Team colors not being a concept unique to baseball, of course.)

She takes custom orders and if you were hankering for something in your own team colors, you can contact her via her Etsy shop. Drop her a line and tell her I sent you. [Seriously completely unsolicited plug. I just thought she was awesome.]

Friday, January 25, 2008

FIVE BLOCKS AWAY.

So the other night, TBF says, out of a clear blue sky, “Ron Darling was in Greenpoint on Sunday.”
“WHAT? WHAT? How was *Ron Darling* in *our neighborhood*? Doing WHAT? Where? There was a Mets event in our neighborhood and we didn’t know about it?”
“No, he was just watching the football game.”
“Where? Randomly, out in the street? At someone’s house?”
“No, at the sports bar.”
“WHAT?”
“No, seriously, at the sports bar. It was on some blog.”
--
Okay, we live at the ends of the freaking EARTH. We can’t get friends who live in the next goddamn zip code to come visit us, because we live at the ends of the earth. You have to take the G train to come visit us. When we found this sports bar a few weeks ago (based on a tip from another Mets fan), our thought was: well, that’s a random place, and no one is ever going to come here who doesn’t live in the neighborhood, because it’s, like, almost in the East River. Me briefly thinking, I could do a MetsGrrl Night Out that didn’t involve naked women… at a sports bar in my neighborhood… but who on earth is going to come to GREENPOINT?

Who? Ron Darling, apparently.

And we were sitting at home, five blocks away.

So just remember that, all of you, when I have MetsGrrl night out and you tell me what a pain in the ass it is to get to Greenpoint. NOT FOR RON DARLING, IT WASN’T.

He was even involved in heroics - from the aforementioned blog:

But the cherry on top was Ron Darling chilling watching the game right at the bar!

Towards the end of the night I am outside smoking a cig when Ron Darling and his friend were coming out to leave. I said hello, introduced myself and Ron Darling tells me to give him a hug! It was freaking awesome. My sister came out and we four chatted for about a minute and Ron Darling even asked me for a cigarette. Swoon.

About a minute after that a silver Nissan Z came whipping around the corner of West onto Greenpoint Ave. It was one of those peel-out sounding screeches, only this guy couldn’t maintain control of the car and he crashed head-on into three cars right in front of CoCo’s.

Me, my sister, Ron Darling and his friend went running over to help get this guy and his girlfriend out of the car. Both airbags deployed and thankfully they were both alright. Ambulances, cops and fire engines were there in two minutes.

(So much for all those stories about Ron’s new conditioning program.)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

R.E.M. AND BASEBALL SONGS!

Yeah, it was an egregious headline, because the instigator is Steve Wynn (late of Dream Syndicate), along with Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Seattle Superstar Scott McCaughey (and Linda Pitmon from Golden Smog.) McCaughey is the kind of guy who has such an encyclopedic knowledge of rock and roll that it doesn’t surprise me he’d be a baseball geek. (He’s the guy that Peter Buck follows onstage when they’re up there playing Dylan covers with Robyn Hitchcock.)

A baseball record! Why?

I’ve wanted to do this record for years. I’m a big baseball fan — and former sportswriter — and always thought the game and the colorful characters throughout history would make an interesting platform for spinning yarns and making statements and metaphors for bigger things in life — assuming, of course, that there are bigger things. I kept putting off the project until I got into a long conversation with Scott McCaughey at the party before R.E.M.’s induction to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. Turns out he was as big a baseball geek as me, and we immediately decided to do the record as soon as possible.

The fabulous (and much missed) KEXP has an interview with Wynn and a preview of one of the new songs, titled “Pasttime”.

Of course, none of this will change the fact that every ballpark in America will keep playing “The Final Countdown” and that ilk at every opportunity possible, no matter whether there might be more suitable music at hand.

*sigh*

p.s. If anyone has a copy of the Bob Dylan Radio Hour baseball segment, PLEASE WRITE. So I don’t have to spend $50 to buy it on ebay or somewhere now that I know it exists. *sigh* again.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

THE METSGRRL.COM GUIDE TO SPRING TRAINING

Tickets for the 2008 Spring Training season go on sale January 19th. Although I only went to Spring Training once, since it pleases me to think that I am an excellent traveler (having gone 3/4 of the way around the globe) and so in that spirit, I offer these tips that will hopefully benefit the new spring training visitor as well as offer additional perspectives to veterans.  If you are on a budget, this guide is definitely for you.

YMMV, do not taunt happy fun ball, et cetera. Feel free to offer your own suggestions in the comments.

[hello metsblog readers - click on the link to below to go to the full article!]

Click to continue reading THE METSGRRL.COM GUIDE TO SPRING TRAINING

Thursday, January 10, 2008

A TICKETING MANIFESTO.

WHEREUPON, THE FANBASE DOTH DECREE THAT THE METS TICKETING OFFICE (HEREINAFTER MTO), SHALL DO THE FOLLOWING:

#1: SINGLE GAME TICKETS SHOULD GO ON SALE THE OLD FASHIONED WAY. This shall include The Last Opening Day and The Last Regular Season Game at Shea.

2: TELL SEASON AND PLAN HOLDERS WHEN YOU EXPECT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CITIFIELD TRANSITION.

Might I remind you that we are PAYING customers?

[more after the jump.]

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